So here we are months into WWE's brand
extension part Deux. There was excitement abound when we heard of
how exclusive these brands would become. Each brand would have its own
major champion, secondary, tag team, and Women's champion. Plus, RAW
would be the home of the Cruiserweight division.
Thus far, this incarnation of the brand
extension does not have the special feeling surrounding the first
incarnation of this concept. What is the reason for this? One word:
Consolidation.
Lemme break it down for ya.
The initial version of the brand
extension centered around consolidation. With the folding or both
WCW and ECW, WWE had established a major monopoly on pro wrestling in
the United States. The band members of years gone by were tooting
their horns to the tune of outright bitterness as a result of this.
However, WWE found a way to make it work.. ...briefly.
RAW and SmackDown at the time were
truly different. They were on different networks. The
presentation
of each show was different. Most importantly, the consolidation of
WWE as a whole brought truly different wrestlers from truly different
companies together under one banner. So while WWE was holding all of
the cards, the unique qualities of each wrestler still remained.
Ultimately, it gave these wrestlers an opportunity to establish
themselves under one of the greatest collective rosters in the
history of pro wrestling. It laid the groundwork for many of the
dream matches that many thought would never happen because of
organizational and political boundaries to become a reality. A few
great tag teams and stables were formed as well. Finally, the
championships were different not only in name, but appearance as
well.
Take a look at this incarnation.
Nearly 15 years after the inception of this device, we see just how
much wrestling has changed. Most of the stars from the WCW and ECW
are all so far removed from the sport. The machine has gotten
mileage out of nearly every possible dream match they could have had.
Today, the closest thing to a dream match you'll get in a WWE ring
is a surprise call-up from NXT. That's it with the the exception of
AJ Styles debut earlier this year in the Royal Rumble. RAW and
SmackDown are now both on the USA Network. WWE has four singles
championships that look the same. At three hours of running time,
RAW has become network-TV saturation at its best.
What was once a gift in the form of
world-class wrestlers and an unlimited library of content has now
gotten stale. Triple-H has been quoted as saying that NXT was the
“guaranteed future of the WWE”. In a sport that people are now
more interested in trying to figure out than enjoy and be entertained
by, the future has become pretty damn predictable. The surprises
aren't that much of a surprise any more. However, this version of
the brand extension is still in its infancy. Let's give it a year
and see what happens after it truly starts to walk. Hopefully, we
won't be subjected to those live RAW/SmackDown Supershows again.
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